Last week Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco mailed deodorant to players on the Ravens, and it worked out pretty well for him: The Bengals beat the Ravens and -- most importantly to Ochocinco -- the stunt got his name mentioned, over and over again, in the media.
So this week Ochocinco hatched a new plan. On Monday, Ochocinco wrote on Twitter that he would be mailing a care package of condiments to players on the Steelers.
“I got a nice present for the Steelers---sending them some mustard since they’ll never ketchup when we play Sunday,” Ochocinco tweeted. On Wednesday morning Ochocinco reiterated that he has some mustard to give the Steelers.
But now the plans are off. Ochocinco told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that Bengals coach Marvin Lewis has barred him from sending mustard -- or anything else, for that matter -- to the Steelers. So the deodorant stunt may be Ochocinco’s last.
Then again, Ochocinco, who has also been tweeting that he wants to fight in the UFC, has always found ways around the constraints placed on him by his coaches and the league office. This is the same guy, after all, who legally changed his name from Johnson to Ochocinco after the NFL told him he couldn’t put his nickname on the back of his jersey. Maybe some week he’ll find a way to send a package to the opposing team without running afoul of Lewis’s rules.
But not this week. For now, the Steelers won’t be getting any mustard.